Each day we bring you one stunning little glimpse of history in the form of a historical photograph. Enjoy!

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Union Monitor

Today's picture shows a Union Monitor in the Civil War. With the sailors on the deck, the ship looks a lot bigger than I had expected. I also notice that the ship appears to have lifts to carry the row boats along with it.

12 comments:

The presence of the field gun onboard (to the right background) is interesting. Either it's hitching a ride or providing security while the ship (boat?) is moored. I don't think they used extra cannon (especially on that type carriage) for additional firepower during a naval engagement.

I too am surprised with the size of that ship. I guess all the other photos I have seen of it were without any size perspective. Just a ship on the water. Now with men on her deck it does give your some idea of her real size.

Roger, zoom in on yesterday's photo, and the day before. You can see at least crewman on the deck of the monitor. They look really tiny on the carrier. There are two guys crouched on the middle of the flight deck and many crewmen lining the recessed areas (AA guns?) bordering both sides of the flight deck.

Follow up comment about pictures and size.I had never seen a B-17 up close. I knew they had a crew of ten. At a flying warbirds show at Republic Airport, Long Island I got the chance to walk through a B-17. I was amazed how cramped it was inside. I measure just about average according to WW2 stats (about the same as your average bull rider) plus I was wearing a t-shirt not a shearling flight suit.When I got out I asked the pilot if the plane was a 3/4 sized replica? No sir! This is a full-sized WW2 vintage B-17. My already huge respect for the men who flew and fought in these aircraft became immeasurable.

I had a simIlar thoughts when I toured a B-17, a few years back. Seeing them in the air and in the movies I thought they were a lot larger than they were. Walking inside seeing the aluminum struts and skin, they reminded me of what great engineering went into them. And how very brave the crews were. I don't think they had much protection.

the Mariner's Museum in Newport News VA has a full-sized mockup of the main deck and turret of the Monitor outside the museum. You can walk through the Monitor exhibition itself (with the turret and engine and so forth) and walk outside to stand on the deck of the replica to get a sense of how big the ship was.

There are 14 B-17's flying in the world today, all that is left of a fleet of thousands upon thousands. One of them is in Seattle for the Memorial Day weekend...$465 will get you a ride, and for $5 you can walk through the aircraft at the Museum of Flight.

The crew of 10 had no armor protection (the pilots may have had a steel seat pan - can't remember) because armoring the plane meant it had to carry fewer bombs. The crew did not wear body armor. Published in 1965, Edward Jablonski's book "Flying Fortress" is an excellent overview of this aircraft and the men who flew them.

About Me

I grew up in West Texas, and could not wait to get away. I got away, and went to the University of Texas, and then on to Stanford. I saw the world, and decided what I really wanted was to be in West Texas. So here I am, right back where I started. I had it all, and found it was not that great.

I have been an avid collector of old photographs and documents for over 30
years. The photographs on this site are derived from material I have collected
over the years. Some came from old family albums, some from material I bought at
flea markets over the years, and some from government archives of public domain
images, including the US Library of Congress, and the National Archives. We
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